Caste-Based_Reservation_and_Politics

The Supreme Court order allowing Tamil Nadu to continue with the 69 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions for a year is a shot in the arm for the ruling DMK as reservation has been a key issue in the State’s socio-political mobilisation.To put it otherwise, in the State that pioneered the concept of job reservation, no political party can ever aspire to reap votes, leave alone capturing power, by taking an open stand against quota.For, not only is the idea of reservation ingrained in the collective psyche of the people, its history in Tamil Nadu dates back to 1854 when the British government issued a standing order (No 128-2) urging collectors to divide the subordinate appointments in their districts among the principal castes.Subsequently, in 1921, the Madras Presidency, during the regime of the South India Liberal Federation aka Justice Party, which was the forerunner for the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), passed a government order (GO) listing out the job quota: 44 per cent for non-Brahmins, 16 per cent for Brahmins, 16 per cent for Muslims, 16 per cent for Anglo-Indians and Christians and eight per cent for scheduled castes.The GO remained on paper till 1927, when Muthiah Mudaliar, a minister in the next government headed by P Subarayan issued fresh orders, which came to be known in popular parlance as the ‘Communal GO’, to ensure job reservation in the registry department.The Communal GO subsequently underwent changes — somewhere along the line the term Backward Hindu was also incorporated — and quotas were provided for in jobs and admission to colleges till 1950 when the GO was struck down by a full bench of the Madras High Court on the ground that it went against Article 29 (2) of the Constitution.The verdict was given on two cases, one filed by Shanbagam Duraiswamy and the other by C R Srinivasan. The grievance of Duraiswamy was that she had applied for medical college admission and could not get a seat in view of the reservation policy and Srinivasan had contented that he was denied admission, despite having the qualification, in an engineering college because he happened to be a Brahmin.After the SC upheld the HC verdict on April 9, 1951, the State witnessed widespread agitations with the DK spearheading the movement. That impelled the Centre to bring in the first Constitutional amendment, adding a fourth clause to Article 15 (Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth).Clause 4 reads as follows: “Nothing in this article or in clause (2) of Article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.”Based on that, reservation resumed in Tamil Nadu. In 1957, after the reorganisation of states, the reservation formula followed in Tamil Nadu was: SC 16 per cent, BC 25 per cent and OC 59 per cent. Later, the DMK government raised the quota for BCs to 31 per cent.When M G Ramachandran was Chief Minister, in 1979 an annual income of Rs 9,000 was fixed as ceiling to avail of BC quota benefit. But he withdrew the order after his party was routed in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections and also raised the quota for BCs to 50 per cent, thus taking the total percentage of reservation to 68.In 1988, when the DMK was in power, it was raised it to 69 per cent with one per cent added for STs. The BC quota of 50 per cent was also split into two — 30 per cent for BCs and 20 per cent for Denotified Tribes and Most Backward Classes.Later, a three per cent sub-quota for the Arunthathiyar community was carved out of the 18 per cent quota for the SCs.